Portable hoist

ABSTRACT

A davit-shaped hoist has its column part pivotally or rotatably mounted to swing on a vertical axis in a braced cylindrical socket removably bolted to the floor of an automobile&#39;&#39;s rear trunk space; and a coaxial sleeve-like swivel collar further braces the column in its manually controlled swinging movement about said axis. The collar is stably sustained in a position well above the socket by inclined struts pivotally connected to 90*-spaced ears on the collar, the lower ends of the struts being releasably secured, as by bolts taking into angle-iron parts on the trunk floor. A crank-operated winding drum fast on the hoist column has a load lifting cable secured thereto, the cable being trained upwardly and laterally about adjustable guide pulleys on a horizontal extension arm or beam of the column; and the cable, as anchored at the end of the column beam, supports a swivel-type pulley and hook unit between the anchor and the end-most guide pulley. An elongated sleeve extension unit may be interposed between the cylindrical socket and the lower end of the column part for the purpose of raising the extension arm or beam of the column part above the roof of the vehicle. Thus the hoist may be used, as an example, to load and/or unload the trunk and/or roof of a vehicle.

[22] Filed:

Castonguay I 1 PORTABLE HOIST Roger Castonguay, 3905 Blaconsfield, Detroit, Mich. 48224 Aug. 17, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 172,516

[76] Inventor:

[52] U.S. Cl 212/65, 214/450, 214/75 H [51] Int. Cl.' B66c 23/02 [58] Field of Search 214/450, 75 11; 254/139, 254/139.1; 52/117, 121; 212/61, 64, 65

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,509,950 5/1950 Zierke 214/75 H 1,679,981 8/1928 Lawrence 214/75 H 3,266,775 8/1966 Coe 254/139 3,627,158 12/1971 Kobasic 214/450 1,705,431 3/1929 Weed 212/61 582,079 5/1897 McClintic 212/144 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 70,989 10/1952 Netherlands 214/75 H 207,606 10/1955 Australia 214/75 H Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-John Mannix Belknap [111 3,804,263 [451 Apr. 16, 1974 [57] ABSTRACT A davit-shaped hoist has its column part pivotally or rotatably mounted to swing on a vertical axis in a braced cylindrical socket removably bolted to the floor of an automobile s rear trunk space; and a coaxial sleeve-like swivel collar further braces the column in its manually controlled swinging movement about said axis. The collar is stably sustained in a position well above the socket by inclined struts pivotally connected to 90-spaced ears on the collar, the lower ends of the strutsv being releasably secured, as by bolts taking into angle-iron parts on the trunk floor. A crankoperated winding drum fast on the hoist column has a load lifting cable secured thereto, the cable being trained upwardly and laterally about adjustable guide pulleys on a horizontal extension arm or beam of the column; and the cable, as anchored at the end of the column beam, supports a swivel-type pulley and hook unit between the anchor and the end-most guide pulley. An elongated sleeve extension unit may be interposed between the cylindrical socket and the lower end of the column part for the purpose of raising the extension arm or beam of the column part above the roof of the vehicle. Thus the hoist may be used, as an example, to load and/or unload the trunk and/or roof of a vehicle.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PORTABLE l-IOIST BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The improved hoist finds primary application as a piece of portable equipment for handling heavy and/or unwieldy objects such as a minibike, an outboard motor, a boat or the like, as readily set up in an automobiles open trunk space, and as readily dismantled and stowed within that space when not in use. However, other applications in other fields are contemplated.

2. Description of the Prior Art A searchreveals as the most pertinent prior art patents to Scott et al., US. Pat. No. 2,673,753 of Mar. 30, 1954, showing a crank-operated vehicle loading hoist apparatus in which an upright hoist column is socketed in a tubular member braced to a vehicle platform; and Keener, US. Pat. No. 3,019,918 of Feb. 6, 1962, shows a swingable hoist structure mounted at the rear of a service truck. However, neither of these patents shows or suggests the improved, dual braced sleeve feature, among others of the herein disclosed hoist, in which the hoist column has dual rotative guidance of a very stable sort.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention affords a relatively light weight portable hoist unit including a truss-braced davit-like pivotal column and beam unit'oflight-weight tubular construction which carries on its column portion a crank operated drum operating a load cable. Pursuant to themvention, the column is guided in rotation at two coaxial socket and swivel guide collar zones substantially spaced vertically from one another; and when the hoist is not in use, the column, along with its guide collar, its crank drum, cable and pulley fittings, and its two pivotally mounted stabilizing floor strut members are readily removed from the column socket for stowing or storingJThe socket mount andbracing, and possibly although not necessarily, also certain angle-iron floor connections for the struts, are such as to enable ready removal thereof, for retention by the owner, if desired,-

when the automobile is resold.

Further, the hoist construction represents an assembly of components which are either widelyavailable on the market. such as the cable and its winding drum and other fittings, or are easily formed and assembled by welding, bolting or otherwise, using only job-shop type equipment. 1

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The hoist of the invention, as generally designated by the numeral 10, is an inverted L-shaped tubular post or column having the bottom or lower end of its vertical upright 11 rotatably mounted or socketed directly in an upright tubular sleeve or socket member 12 or in a generally fixed vertically upstanding three part unit 13 as shown in FIG. 1. The unit 13 comprises the aforementioned upright tubular sleeve or socket member [2, the bottom of which is dead-ended by a welded cap; a removable elongated tubular extension sleeve 14 of approximately two feet in length which has one end received in the socket member 12; and a removable rodlike connecting element 15 having one received in the upper part of the extension sleeve 14 and the other end received in the bottom or lower end of the vertical column upright 11. The length of the tubular extension 14 may vary for different hoist applications. The rod-like connecting element 15 includes a laterally extending flange 15' which rests on the top surface of the tubular extension 114. The bottom end surface of the upright'll rests upon the upper side of flange 15'. The tubular extension sleeve 14 extends into the tubular sleeve 12 and bottoms adjacent the welded cap as shown in FIG. 1. The bottom or lower end of the vertical upright 11 fits the upper end of the rod-like element 15 and rests on the flange 15 thereof as stated previously.

The welded cap on the bottom of the socket member 12 is pierced to receive a mounting bolt 12'. The bolt passes through a hole in the floor F of the automobile trunk space and is locked rigidly but releasably thereto by a nut 12 readily accessible from the rear of the vehicle. By preference, the socket 12 is located fairly closely adjacent the rear wall of the trunk compartment and relatively close to the right-hand trunk wall W, as viewed in the front-to-rear direction of FIG. 2, for convenient manipulation externally of that side of the car. For added stability, socket 12 is encircled by a rigid metal U-strap 16, offset at its rear legs to afford a releasable bolt connection at 17 to the rear trunk wall R, as shown in FIG. 1. The cover C of the trunk compartment is shown in FIG. l'in its fully elevated position', giving ample open space to manipulate the column 11 through over left-to-right and back, and in cable reeling. The inner diameter of socket 12 is only sufficiently greater than the o.d. of column 11 or of the extension element l4to receive same with a free sliding but non-sloppy fit, and for an easy axial telescoping action. A free sliding fit is also provided between the rodlike element I5 and the associated tubular components.

The L-shaped tubular post or sleeve 11 may be mounted directly in the upright tubular sleee or socket member 12 when it is required to load or unload equipment relative to the trunk vehicle. In certain applications it may be required to place equipment on the roof of the vehicle. As an example, a boat may be transported on the roof of the vehicle. In such a case it is necessary to increase the height of the tubular post or column 11 and this is accomplished by utilizing the tubular extension sleeve 14 and connecting element 15 along with the socket member 12 as described previously. With such an arrangement the elongated extension sleeve 14 raises the horizontal extension arm or beam of the column 11 above the roof of the vehicle whereby a boat or other equipment may be raised from the ground and the column 11 then rotated so asto move the boat across to the vehicle roof. Thus, the hoist of the present invention may, as an example, be

used to load and/or unload the trunk and/or roof of a vehicle.

Hoist column 11 is also slidably guided rotatively, with about the same tolerance or fit as described previously, in a guide sleeve or collar 18, which may be a relatively elongated pipe section of appropriate diameter. Collar 18 is sustained coaxially of socket l2 and at an elevation well above the top of the latter, by inclined tubular front and side braces or struts 19, 20, respectively, as operatively applied in the trunk space.

To this end, the forward strut 19 is pivotally and collapsibly connected at its top to the column 11, as by a bolt, rivet or pin 21 applied through a flat 22 (FIG. 2) on the upper end of the strut and engaging a bracket ear 23 welded to the forward mid-point of collar 18. The ear may typically be a square nut. Extending downwardly and forwardly from this connection, strut 19 has a bottom end flat affording similar connection to trunk floor F, as through the agency of a bolt and nut connector 25 taking into the upright flange of an angle-iron section 26. This piece is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as having a relatively permanent connection to the floor but may, like socket 12, have a releasable mount, enabling all of the socket strut and other brace components to be completely removed from the vehicle, if desired,

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 2, the mildly bent strut 20 for column guide collar 18 has a flatted upper end at which it is pivotally, and collapsibly, mounted. as by a rivet, pin or bolt 27, to a nut'or like car 28 welded to the side of the guide collar in 90 spacing from the forward bracket car 23. Strut 20 is releasably mounted by a bolt connection 29 at its lower end to an angle bracket 30 which is fixed, either permanently or removably as suggested above, to the trunk floor F.

A supplemental clamp collar 32 may be fixedly applied to collar member 11 directly beneath guide collar 18, to serve as a bottom stop holding the struts 19, 20 in assembly with the column 11 when the struts are released at their bottom anchors at 26 and 30 folded substantially parallel to the column for stowage in the trunk. Another somewhat modified clamp collar 33 is fixedly applied to column member 11 just above its guide collar 18, serving incidentally as a top stop for the latter for the same purpose.

A pair of rigid arms 34 are formed integral with or welded to upper collar 33 and serve as a journal support for a conventional cable reeling drum 35 of relatively small diameter, to which an end of a hoist cable 36 is affixed. Drum 35 is turned by a hand crank 37, and by preference, is a racheting one enabling it to be anti-reverse locked in any position.

The upright davit-like column 11 of the hoist is bent 90 to provide a horizontal support beam arm portion or cable guiding part 38. Arm portion 38 has a pair of adjustable U-shaped pulley brackets 40 bolted or otherwise secured thereto. the brackets supporting pulleys 41 over which the cable 36 is trained to an anchor on an eye-bolt 42 rigidly secured to the end of arm portion 38. A conventional swivel-type hoist hook, generally designated 43, has its pulley part 44 riding the bight of cable 36 between its anchor at 42 and the adjacent outermost guide pulley 41. Hook unit is raised and lowered by operation of drum 35 to lift, swing and lower any heavy or unwieldy object such as the aboveinstanced minibike, outboard motor or boat.

What is claimed is:

l. A portable load hoist, comprising a column having a cable-guiding part and an upright part, an upright socket unit removably mounting and guiding said upright part for swing about a vertical axis, a tubular guide collar disposed coaxially of and substantially spaced above the top'of said socket unit to further guide said upright part for said swing, and bracing strut means for said collar to mount the latter to a horizontal support when in said coaxially spaced relation to the collar, as on a support at the floorof a vehicle, said upright socket unit comprising an upstanding tubular element secured to the floor of the vehicle, an elongated tubular extension sleeve carried by said tubular element, said extension sleeve having a length greater than the length of said tubular element, with the upper end of said extension sleeve being adapted to rotatably support the upright part of said column, a cylindrical connecting element being interposed between said tubular extension sleeve and the upright part of said column.

2. The hoist of claim 1, in which said bracing strut means comprises at least one elongated strut pivotally connected adjacent a top thereof to said column guide collar. v

3. The hoist of claim 1, in which said bracing strut means comprises at least one elongatedstrut pivotally connected adjacent a top thereof to said column guide collar, the strut having means adjacent the bottom thereof for rigidly but removably mounting the same to said floor or like support. I

I 4, The hoist of claim 1, in which said upright tubular element has means to mount the same rigidly but removably on the floor or like support.

5. The hoist of claim 1, in which said cable-guiding part extends laterally at an angle to said upright column part and the latter carries drum means for winding a load cable guided by said first-named part.

6. The hoist of claim 2, in which said cable-guiding part extends laterally at an angle to said upright column part 'and the latter carries drum means for winding a load cable guided by said first named part, said bracing strut means comprising at least two elongated struts each pivotally connected adjacent a top thereof to said column guide collar, the strut having means adjacent the bottom thereof for rigidly but removably mounting the same to the floor or like support, said socket having means to mount the same rigidly but removably on the floor or like support. 

1. A portable load hoist, comprising a column having a cableguiding part and an upright part, an upright socket unit removably mounting and guiding said upright part for swing about a vertical axis, a tubular guide collar disposed coaxially of and substantially spaced above the top of said socket unit to further guide said upright part for said swing, and bracing strut means for said collar to mount the latter to a horizontal support when in said coaxially spaced relation to the collar, as on a support at the floor of a vehicle, said upright socket unit comprising an upstanding tubular element secured to the floor of the vehicle, an elongated tubular extension sleeve carried by said tubular element, said extension sleeve having a length greater than the length of said tubular element, with the upper end of said extension sleeve being adapted to rotatably support the upright part of said column, a cylindrical connecting element being interposed between said tubular extension sleeve and the upright part of said column.
 2. The hoist of claim 1, in which said bracing strut means comprises at least one elongated strut pivotally connected adjacent a top thereof to said column guide collar.
 3. The hoist of claim 1, in which said bracing strut means comprises at least one elongated strut pivotally connected adjacent a top thereof to said column guide collar, the strut having means adjacent the bottom thereof for rigidly but removably mounting the same to said floor or like support.
 4. The hoist of claim 1, in which said upright tubular element has means to mount the same rigidly but removably on the floor or like support.
 5. The hoist of claim 1, in which said cable-guiding part extends laterally at an angle to said upright column part and the latter carries drum means for winding a load cable guided by said first-named part.
 6. The hoist of claim 2, in which said cable-guiding part extends laterally at an angle to said upright column part and the latter carries drum means for winding a load cable guided by said first named part, said bracing strut means comprising at least two elongated struts each pivotally connected adjacent a top thereof to said column guide collar, the strut having means adjacent the bottom thereof for rigidly but removably mounting the same to the floor or like support, said socket having means to mount the same rigidly but removably on the floor or like support. 